3rd-BEL, $75,000, Msw, 7-8, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:04.42, ft.
SHANGROYAL (c, 2, Shanghai Bobby–Mama Tia, by Carson City), the only runner with experience in a field of imposing firsters, dueled with and shook off a heavily-bet Todd Pletcher runner and held on late to graduate at Belmont. Bought for $400,000 as a KEESEP yearling, the bay was off tardily in his debut May 18 and finished fourth behind 'TDN Rising Star' Mo Diddley (Uncle Mo). Off at 67-10 in this spot, the bay broke slowest of all, but was gunned up to the front to take a narrow lead from 3-5 favorite National Flag (Speightstown) through a :21.99 quarter. Those two separated from the rest of the field by double digits on the turn and arrived at the head of the stretch together. Discarding the chalk by the three-sixteenths pole, Shangroyal burst clear past the furlong grounds before getting very leg-weary late, finding the wire in time by a half-length over rail-running Base Command (Tiznow). National Flag faded to finish last of seven. The winner, the second for his freshman sire (by Harlan's Holiday), was the second-most expensive yearling out of 64 Shanghai Bobbys sold in 2016. Shangroyal is a half to Southern Honey (Colonel John), GSW, $223,017; and Cali Thirty Seven (Eskendereya), MSW, $252,560. His unraced dam, a half to MGSW/MGISP Runway Model (Petionville), is responsible for a yearling filly by Uncle Mo and was bred to Tapit last spring. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $47,150. Click for the or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Breeze Easy, LLC; B-Atlas Farm LLC & Conor Doyle (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.
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